In the following, the survey methods of analysing the social acceptance of wind energy in the region Havelland-Fläming with the two municipalities “Dahme/Mark” and “Niederer Fläming” as well as in the region Lausitz-Spreewald, in the municipality “Uebigau-Wahrenbrück” are outlined in further detail.

The analysis of the social acceptance in the region Havelland-Fläming was accomplished by a survey by distributing a questionnaire. Thereby the questionnaire was adopted from the previous one of 2005, with small changes, such as wording or the addition of answer options in the multiple-choice questions. All in all, the questionnaire consisted of 24 questions that were contructed as matrix questions as well as open questions. Against this background, the approach of the survey of 2005 will be explained in order to provide better understanding of the study design of the survey of the year 2016.

In comparison to the survey of 2016, the previous survey of the year 2005 was conducted in 10 municipalities in Havelland-Fläming. These municipalities were: Brück, Dahme Mark, Niemegk, Brieselang, Kloster Lehnin, Niederer Fläming, Jüterbog, Ketzin, Nauen, Treuenbrietzen. Thus, the survey took also place in the municipalities Dahme/Mark and Niederer Fläming that belong to the county Teltow-Fläming. In general, the study sites were chosen in close proximity of 3.000 m to reservation areas for the usage of wind energy that were determined in the regional plan from 2005 (e.g. “Niederer Fläming Mitte, Ost, West” and “Dahme/Falkenberg”). The participants of the survey were chosen through a systematic random sample, supported by the residents' registration office. The questionnaires were distributed to the letterboxes of the households and collected door by door by local secondary-school students. In total 1,115 inhabitants participated with a response rate of 60 % in the whole region, while there were 291 participants (84 % response rate) in Dahme/Mark and 213 (80 % response rate) in Niedere Fläming. For the analysis, a frequency analysis was applied to show the mood of the municipalities and the whole region (WindTechKnow 2015).

The current method of sampling corresponds to the previous survey, however, in 2016, the survey only concentrated on the municipalities Dahme/Mark and Niederer Fläming. A systematic random sampling of k=5 was chosen for each small village (fewer than 200 inhabitants) and of k=10 for larger villages. To draw a systematic random sample, every k^th element was chosen, beginning with a randomly chosen point. The first step was to create an index list of all households in each village. From those separated index lists, a single random number between 1 and the k value was drawn. Then, every k^th element should be chosen. For example, in the case of a sample of k=10 where the single random number was 7, then the sampled numbers would be 7, 17, 27, 37, 47, 57… . In both municipalities the defined minimum and maximum sample size were 1 and 50, respectively.

In total, 539 residents received questionnaires in their letterboxes in May and Juni 2016. After two weeks, the questionnaires were gathered personally by the students’ project or collected from a delivery point in the two municipalities.

The sampling applied was similar to the one which has been used for the survey in Darme/Mark und Niederer Fläming. However, a systematic random sampling of k =10 was equally used for both small (fewer than 200 inhabitants) and larger villages. It was assumed that there is no tendency or periodicity in the surveying area which can generate bias. The sampling carried out by the local registry generated 217 addresses.

The residents received questionnaires in their letterboxes in Juni 2016. They were asked to use the provided return envelope with postage covered by the project and return it to the TU-Berlin within one week. Meanwhile, an article was published on the webpage of the municipality, aimed to make the population aware about the survey.

The Uebigau-Wahrenbrück questionnaire contains 17 questions from the Havelland-Fläming questionnaire out of 23 questions in total. Based on the questions from the Havelland-Fläming, a few questions are added, deleted and modified in an attempt of improving it, in order to better collect information with regards to the following aspects:

• The influence of coal mining: impacts and direct benefits
• Procedural factors: scale of participation and procedural fairness
• Socio-economic factors: distributive justice / benefits sharing
• Perception on impacts: long term effects on health
• Other personal characteristics: occupation and gender